RedLetterMedia Is Truly the Best of the Worst

For those familiar with YouTube and movie culture, it would be hard not to acknowledge a particular group of online creative hacks that have been occupying YouTube since its very inception.

That is right, RedLetterMedia, otherwise known as the greatest YouTube channel of all time. Truly, these guys are the “best of the worst,” and it is always a joy when a new video of theirs drops on the internet.

Now, people usually have their go-to preferences for what their favorite YouTube channels are, and their individual tastes are definitely ‘to each their own.’ But compared to RedLetterMedia, all those other channels are nothing but “ENDLESS TRASH!!!*”

RedLetterMedia’s origins are also a bit incomplete. They were formed as an independent film company with their group of friends in 2004, but they also supposedly used to be wedding videographers, though that history remains a bit cloudy.

RedLetterMedia’s definite beginnings can be traced back to their early videos where Mike Stoklasa, the main personality, narrated videos criticizing movies such as “Star Trek: Generations” and “Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace.”

These videos became widespread, and Mike’s dry voice eventually led to the creation of the fictional character of Harry S. Plinkett, voiced by Mike for voiceovers, and impersonated by Rich Evans in live-action.

Then, other members like Jay Bauman, Josh Davis, and Jack Packard would eventually rise in prominence on the channel.

RedLetterMedia also has four main shows that they partake in: “Half in the Bag,” “Best of the Worst,” “ReView" and “The Nerd Crew.”

The first show, “Half in the Bag,” is essentially “Siskel and Ebert” meets “Seinfeld” with a dash of RedLetterMedia charm. Mike and Jay serve as the main hosts, and they play two VCR repairmen, as they swindle an elderly Mr. Plinkett (played by Rich Evans) out of his fortune by “pretending” to fix Plinkett’s VCR so he can finally watch “Night Court.”

They spend some of their misadventures discussing new movie releases and have talked about such films like “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” “Transcendence” and “Top Gun: Maverick,” among others.

Though, they have moved away from summer blockbusters in recent years in favor of independent films and obscure streaming shows and spend little time on that “'MARVEL' and ‘Star Wars’ crap.”

“Half in the Bag” remains RedLetterMedia’s best-known series, though it is possible that they still have not fixed Plinkett’s VCR yet.

Their second show, “Best of the Worst,” is filled with both joy and misery, depending on what they pick. Mike, Jay, Rich and other members of the RLM crew venture into the world of the B-Movie by watching some of the worst movies ever made.

“Best of the Worst” also contains three sub-series, “Plinketto,” “Wheel of the Worst” and “Black Spine.”

With “Plinketto,” they spoof the famous game from “The Price is Right” by dropping a ball and then watching whatever movie it lands on. Also named after Mr. Plinkett.

“Black Spine” has all the labels removed from the tapes, making it a mystery what the RLM crew watches.

“Wheel of the Worst” is dedicated to picking random but horrible VHS tapes. Selected tapes may be a failed attempt at making a children’s video series, a horribly put-together VHS tape on learning Vegas casinos, or Rich’s favorite, learning about “fire safety.”

At the end of each episode, the crew must individually decide which movie or tape is the ‘Best of the Worst,’ and sometimes, the worst tape gets destroyed in a creative fashion.

“Best of the Worst” has also seen notable guest appearances on the show, such as Patton Oswalt and Macaulay Culkin.

Their third show, “ReView,” is simply two guys going into a deep dive into a film of their choice, either a favorite film of theirs or a least favorite. Movies such as “Event Horizon,” “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” have been featured here previously.

Their last show, “The Nerd Crew,” follows Mike, Jay, and Rich as they pretend to be paid-off fanboys in a parody of such shows such as “Collider” and “Screen Junkies.”

Each of them offers a satirical look at how “Nerd Culture” has been degraded by the ‘man-child' obsession with cheap “key-jangling” nostalgia and references and mega corporations' obsession with product placement.

Unironically, “The Nerd Crew” has been a little too accurate with predicting how movies have churned out like a conveyor belt and have previously made fun of how many ‘Batmen’ audiences witness onscreen at a time.

Recently, in a spoof of online discourse and Zoom chats, “The Nerd Crew” mocked how ‘great’ the “Madame Web” movie would be, as Rich kept interrupting with his constant audio problems, and as Mike kept smoking weed without a care in the world.

“The Nerd Crew” is also the origin of one of Jay’s most famous and accurate phrases, “don’t ask questions, just get excited and consume next product*.”

And because RedLetterMedia is technically a small indie film company, that also means they have released films of their own before.

“Oranges: Revenge of the Eggplant” and “The Recovered” are their earliest known entries, but their most famous is “Space Cop,” a film known for being so bad, even it become the butt of jokes among the RLM crew.

That’s just a taste of what you can experience with RedLetterMedia. Four shows, and a good handful of terrible movies.

But RedLetterMedia is more than just a silly YouTube channel following the crazed freaks who run it. RedLetterMedia is single-handedly responsible for how online discourse of films has changed over the years, in addition to how the early Plinkett reviews helped shape an emerging art form of video essays, combining footage from the movie in correlation with other related sources.

In the end, RedLetterMedia is truly the “Best of the Worst.”

*Quotes from members of RLM

Logan M. Sharp is a fourth-year majoring in film production. To contact him, please email lxs5590@psu.edu.